Father John Misty - Pure Comedy
- Written by Gareth Hack
Ex Fleet Foxes percussionist Josh Tillman offers up his latest contribution under the now acclaimed pseudonym of Father John Misty. Latest release Pure Comedy is worlds away from 2015’s I Love You, Honeybear.
Filled to the brim with piano-driven balladry, Tillman has remained satirical in his lyrical venting but has chosen to centre much of Pure Comedy on modern life and the way in which he perceives it – in all its disturbingly confusing splendor. While his previous works could be considered a more light-hearted concern with songs of drug-fuelled escapades and tales of utter adoration, Pure Comedy shows another side to a highly cynical individualist.
There are moments of concerning poignancy at times in Pure Comedy. “Bedding Taylor Swift every night inside the Oculus Rift” explains Tillman in ‘Total Entertainment Forever’, showing that he is still adamant to turn heads with his perception on the course of human development. And 13-minute-long ‘Leaving LA’ is a disarmingly honest bestowal of Tillman divulging in his most vulnerable speculations.
However, on the whole, this time around it would appear as though Tillman’s guise as Misty and the self-centered disposition that was once a charming asset has outgrown the music that is being presented. The sincerity in the songs is still there but there is a sobering cleverness in Pure Comedy that comes across as overbearing and tiresome. With its copious amount of slow tales of spiraling civilisation with a self-indulgent nature that never fails to dissipate, unfortunately, Pure Comedy never truly leaves the ground the same way that its predecessors did.